Mute Button
by FastyKun
Summary: Gumi is mute. No, she doesn't have a problem in vocal chords, she chooses to be mute after a traumatic event. But, just because you're mute, doesn't mean you can't have fun! No, she has to juggle baseball, her crazy friend, a new boy, and his crazy sister! Oh, how she wishes she could bat away her problems like a curve ball...
1. Chapter 1

**Mute Button**

It started with a fire. Yes, the typical beginning to a depressing life.

I was a bubbling, cheerful eight year old girl, the sort that would make strangers smile and compliment me on my personality and my beautiful green hair. My parents always told me not to talk to strangers, but they were too nice to me, and I would always give them a sweet "thank you" in return for their kindness.

It was a typical day in the summer, and I was playing with my toy Mushy, a brownish tattered dog stuffed toy. It was the hottest day of the summer, and there were many fans on in the room I was sitting in. Imagine my surprise when out of nowhere, the fans simultaneously switched off! I got up, confused. I was in my room at the time, and I stepped out to try and find my mom. I smelled an icky smell, I didn't like it at all and had a bad feeling about it, but I continued to my parents' room. What awaited me was a massive, roaring fire, and the smell rushing at me, which was the source of the smell. My parents were trapped inside, and they yelled at me to hide in the basement, that they would be out in no time and they would be okay.

You can probably guess the rest. I ran scared to the basement and hid. Above me was loud crackling and pops. I prayed and prayed, that my mom and dad would be safe. It was a while before I heard rushing footsteps and the basement entrance slammed open. In stepped many unfamiliar people, who were surprised and joyed to see a survivor. Over and over I asked where my parents were, but all of them averted their eyes and did not answer me when I asked. Where were they hiding?

The unfamiliars took me to the hospital, which I didn't recall ever going to. A doctor in a white outfit checked me for injuries, but I was okay. The doctor in white stepped out, and a few minutes later, the policeman in blue stepped in. He sat down next to me in my cot and said these words without hesitation.

"Your parents are in a better place."

I looked at him confused, then realized what he meant. I screamed to the heavens for a good minute, and then bawled my eyes out. How could this happen?! They said they would be alright!

No one could get me to calm down, not for a good hour or two. Finally I tired out and fainted with exhaustion.

When I woke up, the unfamiliars were around me, staring at me with genuine concern. I remembered in an instant, and was about to cry out again, when I stopped. My opened mouth closed and I thought, 'It's no use...'

They asked me many questions, but I didn't respond. I didn't want to, I just didn't want to. They grew even more concerned when I didn't respond, and eventually they called in another doctor. The doctor checked my mouth and found nothing wrong, to his confusion. For the next day, people urged me to speak, but I didn't. One tried to bribe me with Mushy, which the person had found lying next to me in the basement, but I snatched it back from him and did not speak. Some tried the same with candy, but I refused to take it or make a sound.

The doctors diagnosed me with a problem in the vocal cords, but I knew this wasn't true. Eventually they gave up and let me go free from the hospital, but they had me live in a noisy, dirty orphanage, which I despised. I was also granted a neat little contraption, a mini computer that would say out of the speaker what I typed. From that point on, I never spoke or made a sound, not even one. The contraption, or Sally as I call it, did all the talking.

Oh, but how monotonous the speaker was! I couldn't relay emotion, which was very easily misunderstood. It was like it was designed to make bad situations. When I was twelve years old, I asked the right people if I could live on my own, and I got my own house, paid for by the government as well as all my living needs. Finally I was at peace from the rat race orphanage.

But that was only temporary, I couldn't escape humans forever. I had to return to school of course. It was even worse than the orphanage, but at least it was shorter in time consumption.

I needed something to do though. There was only so much I could do at home, and I got bored very easily. I tried a few sports, but none of them were suited for me, at least until I discovered…

Baseball! My absolute favorite sport, I became a huge baseball fan. I wasn't a bad player either, many people complimented me, but never went as far as to befriend me, I was too 'weird' for that since I couldn't speak.

Middle school. I have very mixed feelings on it. When I tried out for the baseball team, many boys scoffed. There was no way a girl was getting on the team! But the coach was a very nice lady, her name was Ms. Kasane. She gave me equal opportunity when I was trying out.

"Megpoid! Gumi Megpoid, please come up, it's your turn to try out!" yelled Ms. Kasane.

I nervously stepped up to bat. Sally was attached to my shirt, and when I wanted to speak, all I had to do was tap Sally and a holographic keyboard would appear in front of me to type.

The pitcher was a bulky boy, though he wasn't one of the offenders that didn't want a girl on the team. He pitched a very plain ball, which seemed to edge closer as time slowed down.

I blinked once, and swung the bat. I missed, unfortunately.

The boys jeered. "I told you she won't make it! She couldn't even hit that easy ball!" The boys laughed until Ms. Kasane yelled "Boys! Be nice or you're disqualified!" The boys sobered up.

The pitcher wound up again. This time it was a curveball, and I didn't have the pleasure of slowed down time again. I swung, not blindly though. The bat connected with the ball with a CRACK!, and it went flying. It wasn't quite a home run, but it was near the fence. I ran the bases, and I knew no one would be trying to get me out because it was just practice.

When I touched home, Ms. Kasane clapped. "Very nice Gumi! You might make the team!" I nodded in acknowledgement and walked back to the bleachers. I gave a very pointed look at the group of boys, who shifted uncomfortably. I tapped Sally and typed out a message. "Don't underestimate me." said the monotone Sally. Combined with my 'Look of Doom', the boys shifted even more. When I looked back at the field, I heard them not so discreetly switching seats.

"You did very well!" said a chirpy voice. It was a girl with red hair, in pretty drill style. I typed out a message. "Thank you," said Sally.

"Do you speak on your own? Or do you need to use that device?" asked the girl in a quizzical voice.

"No, I have a voice disorder," stated Sally. I knew this to be untrue, I had looked it up quite a while ago, my problem was elective mutism, or the choice to not speak. I started to subtly shrink. It was usually at this point where the person talking to me would say "Oh," and then make an excuse to go away. Teto seemed to be different though.

"Really? Cool! It must be fun using a computer to do all your talking!"

I looked at her in surprise. I certainly wasn't expecting that…

I nervously replied with Sally, "It really isn't, the tone gets misunderstood a lot."

"Well, I guess that is a downside. Anyway, my name is Teto! Nice ta meet ya! My mom is the coach of the team, but I'm not good at baseball…" Teto let out a nervous laugh. I could guess she was embarrassed because her mom was a baseball coach and she couldn't play well.

"That's perfectly alright. My name is Gumi," I replied with Sally. My shyness ebbed away. Would she be my first real friend?

"Tryouts are over!" yelled Ms. Kasane from the field. "If you are picked, you will be informed tomorrow at school!"

"Well, I have to go, I'll see you around Gumi!" said Teto, and she ran down the bleachers to meet her mom.

I smiled. A real friend… I had never had one!

And so two years went on. I was indeed picked, and became the star player. Though I was very successful, my only friend was still Teto, but I was okay with that. One is better than none. Ms. Kasane heard of my story and often invited me to her house for dinner.

My teammates were generally nice to me, but not near friend level yet. We played well, and throughout my 6th and 7th grades, we won many games.

8th grade started, as does my story. With it came changes. Teto became interested in boys, while I couldn't care less, the ballgame was more important. And what boy would like me? The mute girl?

"Heeeeeey Gumi!" spoke a cheerful fourteen year old Teto. I nearly fell into my open locker in surprise. Come on Teto, where does that energy come from? It's only 7 am…

"Don't surprise me like that." I replied with Sally. If I could, I would put in an exclamation mark at the end, but Sally isn't capable of emotion. Though, Teto has the special ability of being able to tell what emotion I'm feeling, and she interpreted my mock anger and surprise very well.

Eventually, I let out a reluctant smile and stood up. Teto took this as a signal, and we started walking to our first hour class.

I won't bore you with any details about our school, but here are the important ones.

Teto is in all my classes. In fact, she has been in all my classes since I came to this school. Coincidence? I think not. Ms. Kasane is pretty involved with student affairs…

Teto is obsessed with a boy named Kaito, who happens to be on my baseball team. I have a feeling the only reason she comes to our practices and games is to watch Kaito, but she always assures me that I'm an important reason too.

I am practically convinced that no guy likes me. When I tell Teto this, she always denies my thoughts. When I asked her once why she thought so, she looked down slightly. When I saw what she was looking at, I reddened. Teto looked like a sly fox. "You know, they really are like balloons. Most guys love that…

Since I correspond a lot of the time with Teto and Ms. Kasane, I have their names programmed into Sally along with other basic phrases like 'Yes' and 'No'. Ms. Kasane is proud that she and her daughter have "broken my alone shell".

Finally, the last hour of the day arrived, relieving my tired self. Only five minutes left now, and my head was nearing my arms on my desk out of sleepiness. My bangs were touching my arms when my teacher announced:

"Children, listen up. We have a new student by the name of Len Kagamine. You will all treat him with respect and kindness. Tomorrow, he will be assigned a guide to show him around the school." Then she turned to the door and said, "Len, please come in." The boy that walked in radiated the color of yellow. His hair resembled a pile of banana peels, with a small ponytail at the back. His shirt was white with spots of yellow here and there. Yellow sneakers of course, ratty tatty and worn. The only change was his eyes, which were a shining blue.

"Hello all, I'm Len! It is my pleasure to be in your company." He then mock bowed. Great, another cheerful one. Did he know Teto or something?

Just then, the bell rang. A mob of students overtook Len, leaving him dazed. I was the last one in the room other than Len, and was rushing out the door. I promptly ran into him, and we both stumbled backwards. I tapped out a quick message. "Sorry about that," spoke Sally. Len looked surprised to see that I was using a device to speak, but he shook that thought away and smiled. "No problem, dear madam." Len mocked bowed again. "There's no need to bow you know," stated Sally after I typed out the message. I gave him a deadpan glance.

Len looked amused. "Well then, if you don't want me to, I guess I won't. You've already heard my name, what's yours?" he asked.

"My name is Gumi," stated Sally. I held out my hand and Len shook it.

"Nice to meet you. Me and my sister are both coming here for the first time, maybe you'll meet her too?" Len laughed. "That would be lucky, you would get a double dose of Kagamine!"

I smiled and typed out "I'll see you later."

"Alright then. See ya!"

Later turned out to be ten minutes later. Teto and I were walking out to baseball practice, and she was discussing 'how cute that Kagamine was, but how he couldn't compare to dearest Kaito,' when I saw the bright mop of familiar yellow hair on the baseball diamond speaking to Ms. Kasane.

"What's he doing here?" I asked using Sally. Teto looked surprised.

"Kagamine is here? I wasn't expecting that, do you think he's on the team?" Teto asked in a happy whisper.

I groaned aloud. Boys were all she was interested in! Why couldn't she be interested in something normal like… baseball?"

Ms. Kasane blew the whistle, and my team members gathered. In attendance:

Me, of course. Our main hitter. I can hit a few home runs on a good day.

Kaito. A chill guy, respects my skills.

Gakupo. A total weirdo, who apparently also has interest in swordsmanship and being a good guy while speaking with a lady. Teto asks me frequently who I would date in the school, and I say Gakupo because he is very polite. Teto always makes a face when I say that.

Ms. Kasane. Our manager/coach, as stated before she often invites me to dinner after a game or practice.

Luka. A pretty girl who Teto envies. She isn't at my level, but she is pretty good at hitting the ball.

Piko. A quiet boy. Likes to pitch the ball or play outfield. Not that great at hitting the ball.

Len. The new guy.

And someone new who stepped out from behind him, a girl with similar looks and blonde hair...

Len noticed me immediately. "Hey, I know you!" He seemed to struggle for a bit. "Your name is… Gummy?" I facepalmed.

"IT'S GUMI!" yelled out a loud Teto from the bleachers.

"Oh, I'm sorry Gumi. And I guess you really _are_ lucky today, here is my sister!"

The girl walked up to me, studying every detail. Then she spoke.

"My name is Rin. Nice to meet you Gummy." she said. I looked at her, a bit annoyed. She knew my name, why didn't she use it?

Rin looked back at me, with an equal amount of annoyance. "Why aren't you speaking, dummy Gummy?"

I tapped out the message. "My name is Gumi, and I have a voice condition."

She crossed her arms. "Why are you so emotionless in saying that?"

I facepalmed again. This time, Len intervened. "Rin, she's using a computer to talk, why do you think she sounds so emotionless?"

Rin made an I-don't-care look. "Whatever… Let's see how well you play, Gummy."

I was mad. Why would I not be? Practice soon began, and I studied the two newcomers. Len was much alike to Piko in his playing ability, and could use some improvement in the hitting area. Rin was decent at hitting the ball, but made up for that with speed. She could probably outrun a kangaroo if she wanted to, covering bases was no biggie for her.

I hit quite a few good balls. By the end of practice, Len was gushing with admiration. "Wow Gumi, I didn't know you were so good!" I typed out "Thanks." and Len grinned.

Rin reacted differently. "Pretty good… but not good enough, Gummy." My fists clenched. "What do you mean?" asked Sally monotonously.

"What I mean is, you aren't good enough." replied Rin. My clenched fists started to shake.

"Now, now, let's be nice," interrupted Ms. Kasane. I relaxed a bit, but still shot a glare at Rin. She looked at me indifferently.

Attempting to break the tension, Len asked "Gumi, do you think you could help me improve?" I sweatdropped. No boy had ever tried to ask me for something more major than a dropped pencil.

Rin looked scandalized. "No way! She isn't good enough to teach you!"

I was about to retaliate when Ms. Kasane said "Rin, I know this is your first day, but please try to be nice. Gumi, I think helping Len would be a wonderful idea! We can start with that tomorrow." So, without my consent, I was assigned the task of helping Len improve. Was that high on my Want to Do list? I don't think so. Maybe it would be a little bit higher if a certain troublesome sister wasn't insulting me constantly.

Practice ended shortly. Ms. Kasane invited me to her home for dinner, and I agreed. She drove ahead in her car so she would have time to prepare food, while Teto and I started walking to the house. Teto decided to squeal (for what I thought, no reason) once Ms. Kasane was gone.

"Oh my, Len totally is interested in you!" she burst out. I looked at her in surprise. Was he really interested? Then I thought about it.

"No Teto, we're only friends. And he happens to like my ability. That's IT." spoke Sally.

But Teto would not be moved on her opinion. "He totally likes you! Did you see the way he praised your ability? He was gushing with worship!"

I only closed my eyes and continued to walk. I didn't want to hear this right now.

I heard the sound of running footsteps and my ears perked up. I turned around to see Len and Rin, running at us. Well, Len was dragging the reluctant Rin, but they were still running.

"Guys! Our home is on the same path as yours! Can we walk together?" asked an excited Len.

"Sure!" replied Teto, elbowing me. I rubbed the area where I was elbowed and continued walking. Rin walked in front of me, and waved her hand in front of my face. "What land are you lost in, girl?" she asked.

I replied with Sally, "None of your concern, girl." Anyone could have detected the sarcasm in the last word, even though it was through a computer. Rin let out a 'hmph'.

"You're very boring, you know that?" she told me, in an annoying tone. Teto perked up. "That's what I tell her every day! She needs to cheer up!" Rin smiled and said, "Maybe she needs some happy lessons, ya know." She suddenly gained an evil grin, and whispered something into Teto's ear. Teto suddenly had a remarkably similar grin on her face. She whispered something into Len's ear. Surprise surprise, Len had the same look on his face. Then we continued to walk, with me on high alert.

After a few minutes of walking, I noticed that the three of them were edging closer to me. I was very nervous, to say the least. I was getting ready to bolt, when Rin yelled "NOW!"

I immediately felt 3 pairs of hands grab me and lift me up. I squirmed but couldn't get out, it was three versus one. I tapped out the message, "Assault, assault, put me down." I wish I could've conveyed the exclamation point I wanted to put at the end. They were all laughing, and by the time we reached Teto's house, even I was silently shaking with unheard laughter.

They put me down, and Teto grinned. "How happy are you, on a scale of one to ten?" she asked.

"Zero," I responded with Sally, a grin on my face. Len and Rin were smiling, but Rin decided to suddenly frown.

"You're still very boring."

With no adults around, I felt like lunging at her, and I did. Rin only sidestepped.

"Too slow, I guess." I was shaking with anger, but Teto broke the silence.

"I've invited Rin and Len to dinner as well. Ready to go inside?" We all went inside, and Ms. Kasane looked surprised to see four of us.

"Dear me, I only prepared enough for three! Alright, I guess we'll all eat ramen if it's okay with all of you?"

We all gave our consent and sat down. In three minutes, Ms. Kasane came out with the bowls of ramen. Rin immediately started gobbling down the instant noodles in a very rude fashion. Ms. Kasane and Len slowly started sipping the soup. Teto wrapped a large amount of noodles around her spoon and put it in her mouth, and I poked at the noodles for a while before I started eating.

When Rin had finished, she excused herself to go home. When Ms. Kasane asked why she wasn't waiting for Len to finish as well, Rin grabbed Len's collar and dragged him away from the table, and out the door. I relaxed fully and asked with Sally, "What's wrong with that girl?"

Ms. Kasane chuckled. "She seems to be an interesting case, but I'm sure she isn't all that bad. Maybe after you get to know her for a bit…"

I snorted. At this rate, we would be at each other's throats by the end of the week. After my noodles were done, I excused myself and went home. It was nearing nighttime, and I finished finished my homework as quickly as I could, before going to bed. It was a bed with many holes in the sheets, and my stuffed toy Mushy was still by my pillow. However bad it looked, it was my bed. I lay down in it, and entered my slumber.

 **A/N: My new story, and my summer pet project. If you liked it, please review and follow/favorite. The next chapter will either be coming out shortly, or a little bit after June 9th. Please be patient!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Mute Button**

It was late at night. When exactly? I have no clue.

I was deep in my sleep. One of my usual dreams was playing in my mind, the one where I'm accepted into a major league for baseball and become a legend. However this time, something was different. I was playing a championship game when I realized that in the audience was Teto, Rin, and Len. I spared them a quick glance, and they yelled out encouragement. Then I glanced around at the other audience members.

Surreal. Everyone there was a copy of Teto, Rin, or Len. Out of shock, I slowly started to sink to my knees, and then my body sank through the floor.

When I could see again, I was floating inside my school. No one noticed me or screamed out, seeing a flying girl with green hair. I spotted Teto, speaking to a robot I had never seen before. I floated close enough to hear their conversation.

"Ya know Sally, you're a pretty cheerful and interesting person to talk to!" Teto said. My eyes widened in shock.

" _Thank you. I am glad that my presence is appreciated!_ " replied Sally, in a joyful voice. My eyes would have widened more if they could have. Sally, my voice, actually could speak with emotion…

Running down the hall was Rin and Len, Rin not looking reluctant at all. When they reached Sally and Teto, Rin raised her hand in a high-five gesture. Sally quickly responded and slapped her hand. Rin grinned. "Heya Sally, how's it going?"

" _I'm doing quite well! What about you, Len?_ " Len let out a smile.

"I'm doing great, thanks for asking! By the way, what did you get on question eight of that math test…"

The scene was fading away. A new one appeared. It was a party, and the walls were green and yellow. My attention was drawn to the center, where two figures were standing. It was…

My future self?! And this looked like a marriage, but who was I marrying?

I floated closer, trying to get a look. I was surprised to see Len as the groom.

…

I was even more surprised when the face changed into Kaito, then Gakupo, and then even Teto, Rin, and Luka!

I recoiled and the scene evaporated, leaving me to wake up suddenly, sit up quickly, and gasp for air. Outside, the sun was rising and birds were chirping. I calmed down and got up, and started getting ready for school.

I left the house and embraced the cool air. The summer seemed to not want to leave, even though it was the middle of September, and this cool weather was a nice change.

I crossed a few streets, and was nearing the school when suddenly a red blur charged at me, tackling me to the ground. The fiery rouge girl was laughing with glee, and started tickling me.

Ever since I stopped using my voice, I didn't laugh or let out sounds. So when Teto was violently tickling me, all I did was shake with unheard laughter and try to push her off me. When she finally did, I said with Sally "Dammit Teto! Why do you need to tackle me in the morning?" The exclamation mark wasn't heard of course, but Teto grinned evilly.

"I told you Gumi, you need to wake up when you have left the house! You can't go to school half asleep…" she replied.

Meanwhile, a certain pair of blonds were approaching. Yes, the (in my opinion) infamous Kagamines were going to walk with us _again_.

Not that I minded. At least, I don't think I minded…

"'sup Gumi, Teto?" said Len, casually. Rin was not so calm. She looked as if she had been dragged from bed, forced to eat, and then dragged outside. In a deep, dark tone, she said "If any of you disturbs my half asleep state, I will kick you so hard that all of your bones will break in your body."

Teto and I sweatdropped, but Len only laughed.

"She's like this every morning. Just be careful!" Len said.

"Okay then," I tapped out with Sally, and we continued to walk.

We had only just reached the school grounds when a figure approached us. I recognized him as Mochihito, the (in everyone's opinion) infamous pervert. He was caught very frequently looking at female… how shall I say it… fruits. He wasted no time in what he wanted to say.

"Hey Rin, I remember you from yesterday. Want to go out with me? I am a very honorable gentlemen," he said, breezily. I snorted. Gentlemen, right.

Rin slowly looked up, red eyes glowing. Then she said…

"Sure." Mochihito smiled.

" **OVER MY DEAD BODY!** " Rin suddenly yelled. I jumped back as she leapt at the poor boy, and destroyed him, not unlike how a cat might. His pleas for help were painful, and his escape attempts were pitiful. Oh well, maybe he deserved it? He was a pervert, and he had disturbed Rin in the morning I guess.

The broken shell of a boy fell over, and Rin looked up. She now looked perfectly normal, like yesterday.

"I'm awake now! Shall we go and forget this ever happened?" she stated. Without waiting for an answer, she walked towards the school doors. We tried to ignore the shuddering mass on the ground and followed Rin. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a teacher, and I thought she was going to approach us and take Rin to the office, but she looked like she was shivering out of fear. I specifically remember that later in the day, no one was ever called down to the office for attack on a fellow peer.

As we entered, I spotted a familiar purple haired boy.

"Hey Gakupo," I said with Sally.

"Why hello Gumi. What a pleasure it is to see you on this fine morning." replied Gakupo smoothly. I could practically feel Teto making a face behind me of disgust. I ignored this feeling and continued to speak.

"Are you ready for the game this weekend? I hear it's going to be against a tough team," I said with Sally. Gakupo smiled. "As long as you are there, I'm sure the game will be fine. After all, you are our best player."

An image popped into my head of the last time we were playing a serious game. Gakupo's hair was held up in a large bun so it wouldn't get in the way. I resisted the urge to smile or grin.

"Well Gakupo, we'll see you later," I said. The four of us bade our goodbyes and continued to walk. Teto looked disgusted. "Why do you talk to that weirdo? He looks like a future pedophile case or something…"

I looked at her angrily. "Everyone deserves a chance you know. I wouldn't expect you to be so prejudiced against him, you weren't like that to me all those years ago." I retorted with Sally. Teto winced.

"I-I didn't mean it like that… I'm sorry Gumi," she replied in a sad voice. I forgave her of course, I couldn't stay mad at her for too long. However, I _would_ be watching her behavior around Gakupo, to make sure she meant it.

Meanwhile, Rin and Len were having a heated discussion, which went something like this:

"Rin, what's your third favorite color?"

"What the heck? Am I really supposed to know that? Uhh, blue I guess…"

"Really? Then what's your second favorite?"

"What's with these odd questions? I guess my second favorite is red."

"...what's your first favorite Rin…?"

"Orange of course."

Len burst into fake tears. "What about yellow?! Do you not have a place in your heart for your brother's favorite color…?!"

"Uh huh. Len, what's your third favorite color?"

"Brown."

"Second favorite?"

"Light blue."

"And your first favorite?

"Yellow…?"

"No orange? Hypocrite." Rin then proceeded to (in a fake sort of way) beat Len over the head, with Len crying for mercy.

I sweatdropped, and Teto laughed. Then she put a serious face on and asked me, "Rin, what's _your_ third favorite color?"

"I'm afraid to answer that question," I replied, and started to run away as fast as I could to my first hour class.

It was lunchtime. I joined the bustling lunch line, which was filled with rowdy boys, making me feel a bit uncomfortable. I grabbed a tray, and bought a salad, a sandwich, and a bag of carrots. To my surprise, the one running the register was a new face, and she accidently gave me an extra dollar in change. I wasn't sure what to do, so I just accepted it and walked back to my table.

What I wasn't expecting was to see Len and Rin sitting there as well as Teto. Teto and Len were talking about something school related, and Rin was reaching into her lunch bag.

"What do you have to eat?" I asked with Sally. Rin pulled out and orange and started peeling it. She answered, "An orange."

"That's all?" I asked, in confusion.

"Nooooo." she replied, and that was the only answer I received after that.

When she had finished the orange, she reached into her bag again. "I thought all you had was an orange?" I asked. She pulled out another orange. "What? You said you had one…" Len snorted. "Rin, only ever having _one_ orange? Never heard of that. I felt confused, but started eating.

"By the way," I said with Sally, "the person at the register gave me an extra dollar in change…"

Teto perked up. "Really?!" She dashed to the line to buy something. Unlike me, she apparently had no guiltiness in stealing a dollar.

But then again, maybe the school deserved it for hiring someone that couldn't count change…?

Nah. I got up to go back to the lunch line. I returned the dollar and apologized to the person running the register. When I got back, Teto was standing there with her arms crossed.

"Why'd you do that? That was free money, come on Gumi."

"Yeah, well I'm not a thief." I sat down. Teto shrugged her shoulders and sat down too. I saw Rin eating her 6th orange. I could distinctly smell the citrus emitted. Len was eating a banana, and thankfully it seemed he only had three. By the time lunch was over, I could swear Rin had eaten over thirty oranges.

"Do you guys have an orange farm in your backyard or something?" I asked. Len laughed

It was seventh hour, or the writing hour. The room was silent, as everyone was hard at work finishing their papers. Teto sat at the other end of the room as me, (un)fortunately. Len was not in this class, but Rin was, and she was assigned a seat by me.

I was working, until I heard a "psst" come from Rin. I looked at her.

"What are we supposed to be doing?" she asked in a whisper. Seeing as Sally couldn't whisper, I wrote her a note: _Writing of course._

Rin made a face and then whispered, "What are we writing about…?"

I answered: _The Sixteenth Amendment and how it affects us today._

Rin made a face and whispered, "That's boring. Why can't we write about something fun? Like how much we hate a certain person?"

 _Who is it you are talking about?_ I asked in a note.

"Well, she has green hair and-"

I clamped my hands over my ears and didn't let her finish. I didn't want to hear that girl rant about me. My chest tightened and my feelings were red hot.

What I didn't notice was a note she had passed to me, which said: _I wasn't talking about you, ya know…_ "

During eighth hour, Len was assigned to sit by me. Why, I don't know, maybe my seating arrangement fate was full of Kagamine. I still can't tell if that's a good thing or a deadly thing.

We were all working on our homework, and Len appeared to be struggling with a problem.

"Do you need help?" I asked with Sally. Len looked grateful. "Please?" he asked. "There's no need to ask, I'll be glad to."

I helped him understand it, and then the bell rang. Teto caught up to me, and gave me a knowing glance.

"What? Did I do something wrong?" I asked. Teto smiled. "Nothing _wrong_ , you're just slowly proving my theory right." she replied smugly.

"What theory…?" I asked. But she was gone. Strange, she always walked with me to ninth hour. I had the feeling she was running to the bathroom to let out a large laugh. And I had a pretty good feeling she was laughing at me.

Finally, the end of the day, and with it came baseball practice. Teto and I walked to the field, arriving a little early. She went to the bleachers while I went to the baseball diamond and practiced swinging. I heard male and female laughter, and looked up at the bleachers. Teto and Gakupo were talking together. I smiled, it looked like Teto had really meant what she said in her apology.

The practice game eventually started, and it went well. I managed to hit a home run, and I gained some applause for it. At one point in the game, Len was trying to catch the ball and accidently ran into me, knocking us both backwards. He apologized, and I heard stifled laughter coming from the bleachers. It didn't take Albert Einstein to understand who was trying not to laugh.

At another point in the game, Rin and I were both trying to catch the same ball when it was hit. Somehow it turned into a race for who would catch it, and when I caught it, Rin growled at me a bit rudely. I didn't physically or verbally respond however, choosing to pay attention to the game.

Whenever Teto wasn't watching Len or I, she was watching Kaito. If I were to put that on a scale, her attention span would be divided into: 1% me, 2% Len, and 97% Kaito. It was annoying that my best friend wasn't watching me most of the time, but I guess it was okay. Kaito was part of the team at least, so it could be forgiven.

Practice was almost over, and it was my turn to bat. Rin had been chosen to pitch, and I knew she wouldn't go easy on me. She threw a ferocious ball, which I would have hit if she hadn't yelled out "LOSER!" right after she pitched it. Distracted, I swung and missed. The second time she pitched, she kicked at the grass, and it flew into my face. Apparently in baseball, you have to pitch grass as well.

I was boiling point mad. For the third swing, I missed because I was in rage mode. Instead of letting it out on Rin though, I just took in a few deep breaths. Ms. Kasane was a bit worried and told Rin yet again to be nice, but I knew she wouldn't listen. I would have to cope with it.

This time, Rin and Len had decided not to walk home with us, as they had somewhere else to go. Not so gracefully, I bashed on Rin all the way home. Teto listened for a bit, then put in her two cents.

"Maybe that's her way of showing that she cares for you like a friend."

I gaped at her. I hadn't considered that! Though it might just be hatred, I had no way of being able to tell until I further studied Rin's actions.

At Teto's house, Ms. Kasane had assumed that Rin and Len were visiting again, and had cooked 5 pieces of fish. So I had to eat twice as much food, and went home feeling a bit sick.

In bed, I decided to try and arrange my thoughts.

Teto was my best friend, she always would be. However, since the last year, she had changed in that she had different interests. The one time I tried to teach her baseball, she had broken a window and Ms. Kasane had asked me not to try and help her. She was interested in Kaito, who used to be in a relationship with Luka. Part of the reason why Teto was jealous of her.

Len and Rin. Len was a (dare I say it) cute boy that struggled in a few areas that I can help out in. He is overall nice to me and anyone. Tries to hold back Rin from being hurtful to me. Rin. She has a 'different' personality, and I still can't tell if she hates or likes me. I need more time to figure that out.

That was about as far as I got before my eyes shut and I slept, peacefully.

 **A/N: Wow, 5 reviews? I feel special x_x Also, a few favs and follows, thanks guys!**

 **Replies:**

 **TheUltimateShipper27:** Thanks for being the first review! I'm glad to hear that you liked it, and I loved to hear your thoughts. I see you've noticed a few grammatical mistakes, I was wondering if you wanted to help me out? More info at the bottom.

 **ProfOtak:** Thanks for the review. Though I felt there was a distinct lack of… exclamation points! :')

 **iDon'tCare:** Uhh, glad to see your praise of my… usage? is that the right word? usage of LenXGumi. The only other story I can think of off the top of my head that is LenXGumi is _Dear Gumi_ , which I highly recommend. Thank you for reviewing.

 **Monochrome:** Thank you for the praise! By the way, if you don't mind me asking… are you the legendary author, MonochromeAddict-senpai?

 **Captionem:** Thank you for the review. Funny story, I remember reading one of your stories a while back, the one called _Why Me?_. I rather liked it!

 **And thanks to the followers and favoriters.**

 **I currently need a beta for any mistakes I might make. I am totally new to the beta system on , so please bear with me if you wish to apply. I am totally okay with plain email betaing as well, but I might have an "entrance exam" just to make sure your skills are good.**

 **I am also having a character poll. Any of the characters currently in the story that have been introduced are eligible, review or PM me with your selection of favorite character. I will have results in chapter 3, but the poll doesn't end there! You can always change your vote after a chapter has been uploaded.**

 **To vote, say something along the lines of "I would like to vote for _"**

 **If you are changing your vote, tell me who you were voting for before and who you are voting for now. "I was voting for _, but I want to change my vote to _"**

 **Thanks all, chapter 3 won't be out this weekend, but possibly during the next week.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Mute Button Chapter 3**

 **(A/N: To make things easier to write for me, when it says "Gumi said," or "said Gumi," or something like that, it just means she said it with Sally.)**

Just another day, I guess. Len, Rin, and I were walking along, heading to school. For some reason, Rin and Len seemed a bit more tired than usual. I could tell because they weren't arguing as much, and Rin hadn't killed anyone yet. Well, it's not like she actually has killed anyone, but you know what I mean…

"Hey, why are you two so quiet today? Not get enough sleep?" I asked.

Len glanced at me in a sluggish manner. "It's Rin's fault… she insisted we watch a four hour long movie last night…" Rin suddenly looked to her right. There was a nice patch of green grass there. She almost literally fell into the patch and curled up to sleep.

I felt a bit nervous. I didn't want to be the one to wake her up, she would probably massacre me. Luckily, Len took the fall and went down to his knees.

"Rin, we need to go to school…" After a bit of gentle shaking (which I wouldn't have dared to do), Rin finally got up and started walking with us, albeit half asleep.

Something seemed wrong when we got to the school. There were no students running around the backyard yelling and throwing random school items. There were no teachers scolding the students throwing items. It seemed… empty.

It dawned upon me… today was a Saturday! But I dared not tell the twins, for I feared Rin would eat us. Well, it's not like she actually has eaten anyone, but you know what I mean…

So I started to slowly back away. Len realized the same thing I had and started backing away slowly with me. Rin stared at the empty building for a full thirty seconds before saying in a scratchy voice,

"Ehhh…? Where is everyone…!?" After a minute, Rin suddenly realized the same thing we had. She was wide-awake now, and turned around. There was a dangerous look in her eyes.

"So we got up, after getting very little sleep, for nothing?! Today is Saturday, what is your freaking problem!" Rin launched herself at Len, who was fully prepared and sidestepped. I was unfortunate enough to be behind Len, and I ended up on the ground with my stuff scattered and Rin on top of me.

Rin was awake enough by now to realize what had happened, and got up quickly.

"Uhh, sorry about that Gummy…" She looked a bit uncomfortable, as if she wasn't sure how to word an apology.

"That's alright, I guess." I responded. Rin helped me pick up my stuff and put it back, and neither of us spoke a word. Maybe Teto was right, maybe Rin wasn't that bad.

Speaking of Teto, she hadn't come with us today. I had thought she was sick, but I guess she was the only one with sense enough to realize that there was no school.

"So what should we do now?" I asked. Len frowned. "I really don't know… any ideas, Rin?

Rin scratched her head. "We could go to the park." I thought that was a wonderful idea. A nice, relaxing walk in the beautiful park, filled with chirping birds and a sparkling lake. So Rin and Len walked me to their home. It was a mediocre wealth sort of place, and there was a car in the driveway. So imagine my surprise when Rin pulled out a key, opened the car, started it up, and then sat in the driver's seat. I gaped.

"Uhh… I don't think you're old enough to drive…" I said. Rin giggled. "Of course I'm not, Gummy! Now get in!" I started to protest, but Len started to push me in. Now I was startled. But Len looked me in the eyes and gave me a look that said, "It will be okay." So I decided to trust Len (and consequentially, Rin) and get in the car.

And then I was in the scariest car ride of my life. We were riding at literally over a hundred miles per hour, and cars around us were honking like mad. At one point, Rin took a hand off the steering wheel just to open my window. The resulting wind would have blown me out the window was I not wearing a safety belt. I yelled in protest and shut the window, while Rin laughed. I could have sworn we passed at least two police cars on the way there. Finally, we pulled into a parking lot.

"Are you crazy? We could have died! And how did none of the police cars stop us?" I asked in fear of legal trouble. Rin winked at me.

"Len and I, we have friends in high places…" I merely groaned and got out of the car. Len smiled in amusement.

Speaking of amusement, this was no ordinary park! When I had said park, I wasn't expecting the kind of park that has giant roller coasters that go upside down, aka an amusement park.

"Is this the right place?" I asked, frowning. Rin grinned. "You never specified which park you wanted to go to, Gummy!" I groaned yet again. This girl would be the death of me…

And as I looked around, I saw not a single kiddy ride, the sort of thing I would usually go on. Nope, it was all jaw dropping heights and large inclines.

I tried to formulate an excuse to stay in the car, but Len was already pulling me along by the arm. I stared at his hand touching my arm and blushed a little. Rin was already way ahead of us, purchasing tickets to every single ride.

I felt very scared now. I had never ridden a roller coaster before, and I didn't want my first one to be one of the huge ones. I scanned around for any smaller roller coasters, and found only one.

"Uhh, Len… I haven't uh, you know…" Len saw my nervous glances around and said,

"Never been on a roller coaster? Don't worry, we can go on the small one," He pointed out the one small coaster I had seen.

"Rin! Don't get three tickets for every ride! We can't spend all our money!" yelled Len. Rin looked back at us and pouted.

"Awww Len… Pweease?!" said Rin, putting on a cute face and intensifying the pout. No guy would have been able to resist the cuteness, except Len, because he was her brother.

"No Rin. We need to eat food to live. No money equals no food." Len chuckled. "When you get married, that face is going to make your husband a slave to you, there's no question about it."

There was no line at the small roller coaster, so we all clambered in. The carts started moving, and I questioned my sanity for not running away when I had the chance.

The ride started climbing a large incline at a snail's pace, and I clenched my teeth, scared for my life. The population beneath me was decreasing ever so slowly in size. When we were at the top of the incline, the ride suddenly stopped.

"Is the ride broken?" I asked with Sally. The last word barely left the speaker before the ride abruptly lurched forward, rolling down the rails at atomic speed.

I thought I was going to die. The wind howled in my face, making a high-pitched scream. That wasn't the only high pitched scream though, Rin was screaming in pure joy as we descended. Len was yelling, but I kept my mouth shut. My mind was shutting down as we approached the bottom, and then the ride slowed down a bit. I checked to make sure I was alive, and to my horror, a loop de loop was approaching.

We went through it at breakneck speed. I can only imagine how my hair looked when we were upside down, or even when we were right side up again. I hadn't planned on needing to tie it or anything, but then I didn't think I would be riding a roller coaster!

Finally, the ride ended. I sighed in relief and exited as quickly as possible. Rin and Len tried to convince me to ride another roller coaster, but I was done. I sat down on a bench and didn't budge. So Len bought me some cotton candy (how sweet of him!) and they went off to ride more attractions.

I sat quietly eating my cotton candy, when two men approached me. Typical slum look, though it didn't escape my attention that they were carrying sharpened knives.

"Well, what a catch," sneered one of the men.

"Is there a problem?" I asked with Sally. The second man scoffed. "Girl, why are you not using your voice? Come on now, we want to hear your pretty little… scream!" He was instantly at my side, and he grabbed my hair. I held back the urge to yell out in alarm, and clamped my jaws.

The first man stared at me with an evil grin. "Well, if that didn't make you yell, maybe this will…" His hand reached towards my shirt, and started crawling up my belly…

'Len! Rin! Anyone! Help!' I thought to myself, squirming. The man chuckled…

And fell to the ground with a loud thump. The second man let go of my hair in alarm. A heavily breathing Rin was standing by the first man. She had run from where she was towards the pedophile and had delivered a firm roundhouse kick on his head. He lay, passed out on the ground, in a pool of blood.

"What have you done!" yelled the second man. He unsheathed his knife. Len appeared and grabbed my arm, pulling me away from the fight. This time, I was too shaken to pay attention to the contact. What was going on in front of me?

Rin was in a martial arts stance. She had kicked off her sandals revealing pale feet, with toenails painted yellow. I'm sure martial arts teachers teach you to remain calm in a fight, but Rin's face was flushed red with fury and she was yelling curse words at the top of her lungs. The man lunged with his knife and I flinched, but Rin stopped her curse rant long enough to dodge backwards. Not very smartly, the man lunged again in a similar fashion. Rin sidestepped the knife and kneed the man in the gut. The man violently coughed, and tried to throw the deadly weapon at Rin. Rin grabbed the knife out of midair, and faster than lightning, she was by the man's side, with the knife discarded away from them.

Once again, I might've felt sorry for the victim, but this man was planning to rape me! So I felt no guilt watching Rin batter the man with physical attacks, and then, when he was on the ground screaming for mercy, she knelt down and moved on to scratch based attacks. By the time the police and ambulances arrived, the man was unrecognizable.

The rest was a blur. Len, Rin, and I were questioned by the police Usually it went something like this:

"What happened?" an officer might have asked.

"Two men attempted to rape me." I would reply.

The officer would show sympathy then ask "How were they stopped?"

Rin would then describe how she saved me. The officer would be surprised and maybe a little unconvinced at the idea, but would eventually believe her after she revealed her wound. Rin was then taken to the hospital to be treated for her wound. She was dismissed from the hospital shortly after being bandaged, as it was not a major wound.

At some point Ms. Kasane and Teto were called in to pick us up. Len, Teto, and Ms. Kasane had gone ahead in the parking lot to enter the car. However, Rin stopped me from following them.

"Gummy, I don't hate you. Please… don't be mad." I glanced quickly at her, then said "How could I be mad? You stood up to two adults and saved me!" Rin and I were in better spirits after that. By the time we were home, it was late at night. We had a nice dinner, and Rin received extras.

The three of us decided to sleep over. Rin and Len shared a room, and Teto and I shared a room. Our discussion began.

"You seriously thought there was school today? Hah, that's so funny! But why didn't you take me with you to the amusement park?" Teto asked. I frowned.

"Sorry Teto, I guess we forgot…" I murmured.

Teto laughed. "No problem! But…" Teto looked at me seriously. "Describe the experience at the end."

I described it as well as I could, and by the end, Teto looked mad. "Now I really wish I had been there so I could've helped Rin!" Teto fumed for a while that she hadn't gotten a chance to beat up a thug too.

Then she lightened up. "But don't you see? Rin rushed over and protected you! She cares about you enough to protect you like a friend would! You tell me she was vehemently swearing, that's probably because she was extremely mad!"

"Yeah," I replied. "She told me in the parking lot that she isn't trying to be mean to me." Teto clapped her hands. "That's great!"

Teto grinned. "Now tell me about your experience… with Len!" I blushed. Without thinking, I said, "Well, he held my arm…"

"HE DID?" Teto exploded.

"Twice." I said. Teto seemed to be in heaven. I regretted telling her…

So I ran over to the light switch and said good night with Sally. I put on my orange and green pajamas and climbed into bed.

I snoozed for a while, dreaming of carrots and roller coasters. I was not pleased when Teto shook me awake at an ungodly hour.

"Teto, it's three A.M." But Teto put her finger to her lips and motioned to me that I should follow her. I left the bed and went with her.

Her path was leading to the Kagamines' shared room. I would've protested but Sally can't whisper. She silently pushed open the door.

What I saw was a very cute scene. Rin and Len were sharing a bed, and it looked like they had started out apart, but during their sleep, they had somehow entered each other's embrace. Mind you, I'm sure it wasn't some forbidden love, but it looked like sibling love, like they cared for each other so much that they couldn't be parted. They had probably been doing this for years in their own bed.

Teto motioned for me to follow, and I did. She pulled out a phone, and pointed the camera lens to the bed. She snapped a photo, and unfortunately, the sound woke up Rin in an instant.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing!" she hissed. She looked at the clock by her bed. "It's freaking 3:15 and you're trying to snap pictures of me!" Teto looked guilty.

"Well…" she started, but Rin interrupted.

"I don't care. Delete the photo now, and get out!"

Teto tried to leave as fast as she could. I gave Rin a look that said 'sorry', and Rin merely 'hmphed'. However, I could tell that she had forgiven us already.

Teto pounced me when I got back in bed. "I have a picture! I have a picture! Those two are secretly in love with each other!" I slapped my palm against my face.

"Teto, they're siblings! They love each other in a sibling way!" But Teto wasn't paying attention to me, so I grabbed the phone and deleted the picture before she could get it back.

Teto pouted. "Why'd you do that?"

"I respect Rin's wishes. She trusts us enough to listen to her when she asks us something, and I won't break that trust." Teto looked convinced, but then a sly smile appeared on her face.

"You also want to have Len to yourself!" I covered my ears and went back to bed. Teto could pester me about this all she wanted, but at least she could do it tomorrow morning.

 **A/N: Whew, that took longer! Blame laziness I guess… The character poll is still existential and here are the results right now.**

 **Gumi - 1 vote**

 **Teto - 0 votes**

 **Rin - 1 vote**

 **Len - 0 vote**

 **Ms. Kasane - 0 vote**

 **Gakupo - 1 vote**

 **(any other characters, and you can specifically mention their name) - 0 vote**

 **If you feel ready, vote in a PM or review. And please don't vote for me lol**

 **Review Replies:**

 **Monochrome** **: cool! Thanks for the review! There is no rush on the vote.**

 **Captionem** **: -.- I totally messed up, I was looking at your favorited stories and I thought you wrote** **Why Me?** **! Sorry!**

 **Leroy Jenkins** **: Thanks for the review, Proffy honey. Let's give me serious feedback next time okay :') I'll berate you more in our private Skype conversation lol**

 **Clockwork Marionette** **: Thanks for the review! And ehh I didn't notice that mistake :/ but now that you're my beta, you can fix dumb things that I say lol**

 **^^^^^^^^^THIS GUY/GIRL IS THE REAL MVP, HE/SHE/IT IS MY NEW BETA :D^^^^^^^^^**

 **TheUltimateShipper27** **: Thanks for the review, I would love more feedback on my mistakes.**

 **Hopefully, Chapter 4 will be here in your near future.**

 **(There were a few inconsistencies that I noticed after ridding this chapter of plot errors. If you notice repeated words/sentences, please let me know. Thanks)**


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